Schuster: My staying at Málaga, depends on our position in La Liga

Málaga manager Bernd Schuster revealed the clause in his contract, that will decide whether he remains as manager beyond the end of this season. As for the result against Villarreal, the German coach highlighted it as one of the most complete performances of the season.

Following the 2-0 victory against Villarreal on Monday night, immediately after the game and speaking with Spanish broadcaster Cuatro, Málaga coach Bernd Schuster revealed a clause in his contract, that could dictate whether he remains at the club, beyond the end of this season.

“It depends on our position in La Liga, if it’s automatically renewed. We have to finish tenth or higher.”

Elaborating on this clause in his post-match press conference, Schuster suggested that when they evaluate the season, all will still be down to the clause in his contract, if he stays or not.

“It’s not a matter of whether I deserve to or not. We have to take account of everything at the end of the season, we have to analyse perfectly how the season has gone, how we’ve done things. If it were that simple, there wouldn’t be an issue, but we have this clause there and we’ll have to see what happens. Our work has to be evaluated and I’m not just here to be a pretty face.”

Schuster further explained that with the team now 10th in La Liga, meeting the very minimum requirements to gain an automatic contract renewal, there’s still work to be done in the last four games of the season.

“Analysing everything, we can all see this is project we started last year, is on the right track. The team is getting better and giving good signals. There’s still a month until the end of the season and later, we’ll have time to look at everything properly.”

The German coach then made his feelings perfectly clear: “I’m super-happy, I have very much liked working with my team.”

“We’ve been waiting for a while to get our play together like this. It’s what we’ve been lacking this season, getting wins like this. That’s what brings such happiness. We’ve gone through difficult times, we know that, but we’ve got through them. We are part of this profession, we know how things work, that it needs calm and we’ve achieved that. We’ve got better with our plan and for that reason, we are where we are now, in a much calmer situation.”

Schuster also went to great lengths to explain that whilst there have been reports of players being unsettled and disharmony in the squad, nothing could be further from the truth.

“There has never been disharmony amongst the players and their manager. That has been the key to where we are now. We gave them calm and confidence after the match against Valladolid, which was disappointing, but it wasn’t so bad. We always must stay calm and certain of ourselves. In that respect, the players have never let us down and they’ve kept fighting for the team impressively.”

Turning attention to the victory itself against Villarreal, Schuster was particularly pleased with how Málaga nullified their opponents.

“We’ve had the game we were expecting, that we were looking for and through this way of playing, we’ve made life really complicated for Villarreal. We haven’t let them play their football or create openings towards our goal.”

Asked if he feels it’s one of the best Málaga performances of the season, Schuster believes that it was certainly one of the most complete.

“It’s one of the best home performances, because we’ve achieved two important things: Not only did we fight and have intensity in our play, we’ve also played football, had possession and we’ve got the ball off them. For those reasons, it’s one of the most complete performances at home, without a doubt.”

As for the dismissal of Amrabat, Schuster understood why the referee had dismissed the player, but felt it was perhaps a little harsh.

“He’s signalled three or four times with a gesture that the referee needed glasses. That’s why he was sent off. I thought he might have said something too, because as you all know, the first thing a foreigner learns, is how to swear in a different language. In the end though, it was for the gesture. It’s hard to say whether it was warranted or not in a game without any real problems. It’s a shame to finish another game with an unnecessary red card though.”

Finally, there was great praise for Roque Santa Cruz, as well as the rest of the team.

“He’s been huge for us in recent games. He has returned like never before and has really taken the reigns of this team. Not just on the pitch, but off it too. He deserves the praise, the fans respect him and he’s given us a lot of life. From Willy, through to Amrabat or Samuel, they’re all at a really good level, most of all today.”